Oh man, Polanaise-Fantasie is the most beautiful piece of music in the history of ever, it contains the struggles and joys of life and flows so freely between them.
Yeah, I have a flaky host, unfortunately. I'm going to try to move some or all of that site elsewhere soon. For now though, it should come up after refreshing(s).
I've actually been looking at music with a hacker mentality for some time. In high school I did a big research project into what made music sound good, and aside from a detailed study on cultural and emotional ties, ended up learning a lot about the mathematical structures that are always found in something that we says sounds "good". Fascinating stuff..
Classical guitar, electric guitar, 12-string guitar, folk guitar (in standard and some alternate tunings), 5-string banjo (clawhammer style), 5-string bass and learning the erhu and drums now. Yeah!
Trumpet proficiently, with ok performance on other valved brasses such as french horn, baritone, or tuba. Some rudimentary understanding of piano, and I wish I could find the time to improve that. And of course I made the typical college attempt at learning guitar...
Checked "Yes, not very well" cause I do play keyboards, albeit so so. However, if programming synthesizers and sound design counts then I could go up one level.
Out of curiosity, not being a wind player myself, how do you "pitch bend" on an Irish whistle? I've always wondered, and find the effect rather delicious to hear.
You partially cover the finger holes on a whistle, sort of rolling your fingers over them, or sliding them on or off the holes. It becomes second nature fairly quickly.
On a flute, you can do the same, but you can also bend the pitch a fair degree by changing the angle of the airstream across the aperture.
I thought it was something like that, but not having the proper instrument may have thwarted my rather amateurish attempts to do the same with other wind instruments.
My talents followed a similar progression, but having been separated from my Bass by the atlantic ocean for several years, my abilities have somewhat dried up. I'm still able when I pick up a bass, I'm now completely unable when I touch a guitar, and I believe I'm criminal with the drums. As for voice, I believe there's legislation in place that requires I be shot if I'm heard singing in a public place . . .
I am a senior in college majoring in computer science and minoring in clarinet performance. I have been playing since 5th grade and I also play saxophone.
cool to see how many musicians are out there on HN
One reed only! (Soprano, alto and baritone saxes -- never got along with a tenor for some reason, even with a "doubler's" mouthpiece -- and clarinet.) Or no reed (flute, piccolo, tin whistle, zampona -- even did a wee tune on an upended Royal Doulton figurine once at a gig for a lark). It's not that two reeds are fundamentally bad, but the lack of exhalation with the oboe gets real old real fast, and the twit who decided that a thumb should be the source of all power (bassoon) ought to have been shot before it was too late.
My workspace is u-shaped, internet on the right, dev in the center, and small electric piano on the left.
When I'm having trouble drawing inspiration from my customers, myself, or you guys, I turn to Chopin. Seems to fit right in.